August 2006 - Rome, Italy - Day 3

This morning we discovered that we can access a neighbor's wireless internet conection from our apartment, so we pirated on that connection for an hour and caught up on emails.

Then, in the same clothes (fresh after Casandra's expert handwashing), we headed out to lunch in our neighborhood and ended up at Taverna della Scala - across from where we had dinner last night. Our friendly waiter made up for laughing at our Italian by buying us Limoncello shots.

After lunch, we walked along the west bank of Tiber and crossed Ponte Mazzini into the historic center toward Campo de'Fiori and visited our new Italian language school right in the middle of the historic center of town! Then, we walked 3 blocks north to the ever-bustling Piazza Navona (the longest and busiest square in the city),

then east to the Pantheon, and on Trevi Fountain again. All four squares are minutes from each other on foot.

After leaving Trevi, we discovered, down Via della Pilota, a beautiful narrow street that contains 4 walking bridges linking the grand Palazzo Colonna to its terraced gardens.

We caught a shot of the facade of the magnificent Palazzo

and then headed west to Piazza Venezia and the obnoxious "Wedding Cake"(disliked by the Romans because it is built on top of 1 acre of priceless ancient ruins). We took a break in the middle of the Piazza and enjoyed great views of the many domes of Rome at sunset and the whirling traffic.

On our way home we passed Teatro di Marcello built by Julius Caesar and his nephew, the 1st Emperor Octavian/Augustus,

and three ancient columns remaining from the Temple of Apollo.

Then crossing the 2000 year old Ponte Fabricio (62 BC - the oldest functional bridge in Rome) onto Isola Tiberini (built around 4th Century BC), we passed the 10th Century church San Bartolomeo all'Isola (built by Otto over the Temple to God of Medicine Aesculapius 293 BC).

We are mesmerized by the sunset views from the bridges crossing the Tiber. Expect a lot of pictures like these.